Automation is changing how work is done across diverse sectors of industry. Where adoption is really taking off, though, is in industries that crunch massive amounts of data and where work is labor intensive and repetitive.
The offshore sector lies at the crossroads of that junction. Data constantly flows in through thousands of sensors as well as complex forecasting models for predicting product yield and monitoring oil wells. At the same time, workers can often be crawling and weaving through huge pipes and machinery, doing routine maintenance and repairs. It’s an industry that can be (and in some ways already is) hugely impacted by the introduction of artificial intelligence and automation.
Improving Site Safety
Safety has always been paramount on offshore platforms. However, even with some of the most stringent and comprehensive safety protocols of any industry, the inherently dangerous nature of offshore work makes completely eliminating operational risks impossible.
This is where automation can make a huge difference. Sensors can read mountains of data in real time faster than any human. In scenarios such as gas leaks, which can turn catastrophic within moments, this computational power will prove invaluable, even life-saving.
AI-enabled systems also offer the advantage of foresight, unimpeded by gaps in communication and human error when sharing data. Using advanced prediction models, systems can predict environmental disasters or machine failure before they happen, saving companies millions of pounds in damages and workers from injuries that could have been prevented.
Automated robots can also increase worker safety by putting robots in place of humans in hazardous areas on platforms–of which there are plenty. “We don’t want to work where we have certain chemicals or toxic gases. And we add distance. We try to do more work remotely, rather than having to send people offshore,” says Anders Røyrøy, robotics researcher at Equinor.
Pushing the Boundaries of Subsea Expeditions
Traditionally, offshore platforms rely on remote operated vehicles (ROVs) to collect data from the seabed and to conduct routine maintenance on underwater structures. These ROVs are piloted by humans riding topside on a boat, connected to the machine through a tether.
These tethers are an ROV’s lifeline and its biggest limitation. The cord limits the area of exploration. However, complete automation is still beyond the capabilities of current AI. Vehicles need human input for maneuvering around narrow spaces and handling delicate repairs. These vehicles are equipped with a multitude of sensors that capture video, temperature, and asset health data–but analysis is a skill that remains firmly in the wheelhouse of warm-bodied technicians.
The solution it seems, much like the current fleet of automated vehicles in the consumer market, is not taking your hands off the wheel altogether. Aquanaut, an undersea robot from Houston Mechatronics (HMI), is a hybrid vehicle that can switch between autonomous and remote control mode. “If we can remove the boat from the operation, we are removing an enormous cost. That’s the disruption here. We are confident we can accomplish IMR (inspection, maintenance and repair) for about half the cost of what everybody is doing today,” says Sean Halpin, Senior Vice President of Products and Services at HMI.
Aquanaut requires no physical tether to a crewed surface vessel. Instead, the signal is beamed through to satellites from an unmanned vessel. The satellite relays the signal to a human controller, who can be situated virtually anywhere in the world. This eliminates the considerable safety risks for manned crews out in the open water.
A Continental Shift for the Offshore Workforce
The march of automation into the field is raising difficult questions and concerns. Employment is one of those concerns. In a field that employs thousands of contractors for manual labour, automation will inevitably mean job losses. The offshore oil and gas job market is already unpredictable, subject to prices that fluctuate due to factors beyond the industry’s control. Robots can only complicate an already volatile situation. Yet where automation takes away, it also creates opportunities.
Automated systems and underwater vehicles still have to be maintained, repaired, and optimised by technicians. Freed from the tedium of repetitive, menial work, companies can reallocate workers to higher-level roles. And workers today can get ahead of the wave by picking up new skills in digital and robotics. Granted, the transition will be difficult, as many employees have been doing the same work for decades. Reskilling and training won’t happen overnight. Yet neither will automation be a rapid shift, especially in a traditionally conservative and risk-averse industry such as oil and gas.
Full automation is still at a largely conceptual–and costly–stage. The first unmanned platform, Equinor’s Oseberg Vestflanken H, only broke ground last 2018. For spokesperson Eskil Eriksen, developments in automation can only free operators to pursue new, smaller projects, sustaining the need for human crews: “Oseberg Vestflanken demonstrates that new concepts provide competitive alternatives in developing smaller discoveries.”
A technical revolution for the offshore oil and gas sector is inevitable. Yet it will not come in the form of robot-operated platforms. In most modern cases, automation creates a human-machine collaboration that allows companies to push further and farther in a much safer, cost-efficient way. The industry needs to invest in not only developing new technologies, but also making sure workers get the training needed to master them.
